Paperwork
by AlsoI'mBatman
Summary: Bruce is bored out of his mind with paperwork, good thing he has a young adopted son. But Dick Grayson sees something in Bruce's paperwork that he missed. Bruce and Alfred both agree the boy is brilliant. Part two: Bruce keeps his promise and takes Dick to the JLA meeting, where he meets Kid Flash.
1. Chapter 1

**Paperwork**

Bruce smacked his head against the table and groaned loudly.

Alfred stopped cleaning in the next room over to stick his head in the kitchen, where Bruce sat.

"Are you alright in there Master Bruce?" Bruce lifted his head from where it rested on the paperwork.

"I hate paperwork." Alfred shook his head, if he wasn't so proper all of the time he would've rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid that's part of the tolls of life as an adult." Alfred sighed good-naturedly.

"Where's Dick?" Bruce asked, what he really wanted was something to distract him from his work.

"He's downstairs working on the uneven bars." A flash of pride shown in Bruce's eyes. '_He's always trying to make himself better.'_ he thought happily. Bruce and Alfred both knew the uneven bars were the closest thing Dick could get to flying on the trapeze.

'_I'd buy the kid the whole circus if I'd make him smile.' _Bruce thought, he just wished he could find a way to let Dick get on the trapeze again. At first he thought he would never want to get on it again, because of the way his parent's died, but Dick had expressed that he was more than ready.

It was at that moment Dick entered the room, with his hands still wrapped in athletic tape and a bottle of water in his hands. His breathing was uneven only in the slightest and it was obvious that he came straight to the kitchen after getting off the uneven bars.

"Hey Dickie, we were just talking about you." Bruce was relieved he could have an excuse to stop working. Dick looked at Bruce suspiciously, then eyed the paperwork in front of him. After being mentored by the World's Greatest Detective he put two and two together.

"You just want an excuse to stop working." He smiled to Bruce. Bruce chuckled and sighed.

"You're right."

"So whatcha doin' Bruce?"

"Paperwork."

"Well, duh," Dick lolled his toungue out as he set his bottle of water on the table,"I mean what's in it." Bruce gave him a half-smile. '_No ten year old is going to be interested in balancing finances. Well Dicks not an ordinary ten year old...' _

"Finances." Bruce finally answered. Dick came up behind Bruce to peek over at the papers.

"Hmm." Dick murmered and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Bruce studied the paper in front of him, trying to find an error.

"I think the math's off a little..." Dick said shyly. '_I don't want to offend him... besides what if I'm wrong, what do I know.' _Dick started to second guess himself.

"I knew something was off, it didn't seem right." Bruce's words brought some confidence back to Dick. '_He's really trusting me with this.'_ He thought nervously.

Bruce sat back in his seat, _'I'll humor the kid, I know he's brilliant.' _He looked over at Dick, who was biting his lip, '_Does __**he**__ know he's brilliant?' _He silently wondered. Only Bruce knew that the numbers in front of him were not just hundreds of dollars, or even thousands, but he wasn't about to tell that to Dick now, if there was a mistake it would be worth more than most people make in their entire lives.

Dick began to slowly start going through the finances on another sheet of paper, explaining softly, he started to get more confident as he went on. When he was done Bruce stared at him in shock.

'_The kid was right. That was just about to become almost a million dollars of misplaced funds because I screwed up the math...' _ Dick was fidgeting in his seat, looking at Bruce expectantly.

"That's..." Bruce paused and looked over at Dick, who was now twisting his hands together nervously, all his prior confidence gone, "Brilliant, Dick this was about to be a million dollar mistake." Dick widened his eyes in shock.

"I...I..." he was at a loss for words, Bruce was giving him one of his special smiles. Alfred had been watching from the doorway and now stood proudly. Bruce marked a few things on the paper to correct some of the marks he had done, matching it to Dick's work.

"I think you've earned the right to come with me to the Justice league meeting tonight Dick." Dick had been smiling down at his hands but at this he looked up in shock.

"Really?! You'd let me?"

"Sure, I think Barry's been talking about bringing Wally pretty soon, maybe you two will become friends."

Dick bounced up and down in his seat slightly. Before processing fully what Bruce had said.

"Wally?"

"Kid Flash," Bruce rephrased, "But right now how about we go and work on your uneven bars a little more." Bruce knew Dick loved the uneven bars, it was never considered work to him.

Instead of answering Dick grabbed the half finished water bottle from the table and bounded down to the Cave. Bruce smiled after him.

He looked down at the paperwork one more time. '_That could've been a terrible mistake...'_

"Master Dick is quite brilliant, isn't he Master Bruce." Alfred smiled at Bruce.

"He sure is, Alfred, he sure is."


	2. Part Two: Kid Flash

**Paperwork: Part Two**

"Dick, I don't want to be late!" Batman shouted.

He was tapping his foot as he stood next to the batmobile. He crossed his arms and waited for a reply.

"Coming, Coming. I'm sorry!" Robin called back. He really was trying his best to hurry. Tonight was to special for him to drag behind.

The nine year old was partially dressed in his Robin costume, the domino mask ascew on his face, and cape partially unclipped, but he made his way to the impatient Batman.

"I'm really sorry, I really, really am! I didn't mean to make you late and-"

"Dick," Batman interrupted,"It's okay, we're not even that late," he brushed a stray lock of hair from the little acrobat's forehead, then spun him around gently so he could clip his cape the rest of the way. The boy gave a small sigh of relief.

After the cape was secured, Batman turned to the opposite side of the cave. Robin looked after him in confusion.

"Aren't we taking the Batmobile?"

"No. We're taking something faster," Batman replied without looking back at Robin. Robin tilted his head slightly to the side before starting off in a run after the Dark Knight.

"Faster than the _Batmobile?_"

"Yes, much faster," Batman replied with a hint of mystery, he stopped walking when he reached the Zeta tubes and turned dramatically toward the young crimefighter.

"Zeta tubes," he explained, "They'll transport us to Mount Justice." The corner's of his mouth couldn't help but turn up as he caught the wide-eyed expression of his ward.

Robin started to bounce on the balls of his feet, as he so often did when he was excited. Batman savored the bounding child's joy for a few seconds before remembering the League Meeting. _I __hate__ being late... but, God, look at his face._ A half smile broke out on the Caped Crusader's face before he could stop it and he had to force himself to focus on punctuality.

Robin stopped bouncing suddenly and gave Batman a grave look, "Wait, It... it doesn't hurt does it?" Even Batman found a kind of humor in the sudden change of expression.

"Of course it doesn't, you might feel a little nausious for a while afterwards but nothing to worry about." Robin gave a solemn nod and let Batman take his hand to lead him into the tube.

It was all over in a few seconds and Robin was left disoriented as he stood in a room entirely different than the Batcave. He gave a small gasp of amazment after blinking a few times.

Batman let go of the little acrobat's hand and looked around the room, slightly surprised that no other heroes were in the entrance. _Oh yeah... late. I've never been late before..._

After the revalation he realised it could be for the better. He remembered his first Zeta tube transport, he felt like he would throw up at the time, and now worried that the boy beside him may feel the same way. He looked to Robin, but the boy's face showed no signs of distress, only excitement.

Their eyes made contact for a moment and Robin gave him a broad smile. Batman lead him to a heavy metal door that seperated the entrance with the rest of the building.

After performing several security measures he was granted access. The heavy metal door slid open to reveal many costumed superheros milling about the room making conversations. The first one to notice their arrival was Superman. He crossed over to them immediatly.

"Batman, we were getting worried, I've never known you to be anything but early-" he cut his sentence short when he noticed the small head peaking from behind the Dark Knight's cape.

"Oh, well I see you've brought someone along," he gave both Batman and Robin a broad smile.

"Clark, this is Robin. Robin this is Clark," Batman deadpanned, he still gripped the boy's hand in his own. When Robin came out from behind the cape, Superman knelt down to eye level with him and held out a hand. Robin let go of Batman's hand hesitantly before taking the offered handshake.

"Nice to meet you Boy Wonder," Superman smiled warmly.

"You as well, uh," Robin paused, unsure of what to address the older man as, "Superman," he decided a second later.

He was unsure of whether the hero would approve of him calling him Clark, and realised that he probably wasn't supposed to know his secret identity at all, he had just overheard Batman say the name a few times, including now, but then again the other heroes didn't seem quite as opposed to other heroes knowing their identity as Batman did.

"You know, I think you're the youngest hero to be in this building," Superman said kindly,"Even Kid Flash hasn't been in here yet."

A flash of pride washed across Robin's masked features, before he blushed prettily. _Did __Superman__ just call me a __hero__?_

He gave Superman a brilliant smile before feeling Batman's large hand grip his lightly again. He was being comforting, not possesive.

"Is Kid Flash coming tonight? I was going to let Robin speak to him," Batman asked. His tone was not as dark as it usually was, Superman noticed.

"I'm not sure, I was talking to Barry the other day and he said he might bring him soon, but he didn't say when exactly." Superman straightened to his full height as he spoke to Batman.

"The meeting starts soon anyways," Batman gave a curt nod to the hero in front of him, before giving a quick glance to his young partner's face. No disappointment shown in the boy's eyes, he was still bouncing, almost unnoticibly, with excitment.

"Well, I hope he shows up, I think you two would get along very well," he directed the statement at Robin. Superman turned and gave a small wave as he left the two alone.

After he left Robin turned to Batman and gave him a large grin.

"I just met _Superman!_" he half whispered. Batman couldn't help but give a small smile at the excited child, and a small squeeze of his gloved hand. It was that moment the rest of the heroes began to make their way to another room.

"Conference room," Batman explained in a whisper. Robin's eyes widened underneath the mask slightly in anticipation. Batman relocated the hand that was holding Robin's hand to the boy's shoulder, and guided him to the room they were gathering in.

Many of the masked Superheroes slowed to smile at Robin, and Batman was sure all of the females let out some sort of 'aww' or giggle at the sight of the nine year old. Batman's eyes studied the members of the Justice League as they continued walking into the next room, although they couldn't know that because of his cowl. The next room was mostly empty except a long table surrounded with chairs, and Batman led Robin to a place near the end.

Superman sat at the head of the table and Batman took the chair on his right side. Robin noticed the identification tags ingraved in front of the heros on the table. He hesitantly sat down in the chair Batman had rolled over. Superman waited to start for everyone to settle in their seats.

_Barry's still not here. Should've known, he's going to be late like he always is. _Batman continued to silently move his eyes around the room as metahumans and heroes took their seats. _The Fastest Man Alive always had to be late. How ironic._

Almost all of the members had finished taking their seats when Batman noticed Robin examining the room, the exact same way he had been. He blinked a few times underneath his cowl and turned his eyes away, trying to ignore how much the child looked like him at the moment.

"Batman," he was torn from his thoughts as the young vigilante whispered in his ear,"Is the Flash always late? He's not here."

Batman gave a low chuckle. _God the kid even thinks like me._

"Yep. Every meeting," he answered Robin with slight humor in his voice.

"_That's_ ironic," Robin giggled. Batman bit the inside of his cheek at the boy's words to keep the smile from breaking out on his face.

"Today is a special day for Justice League history. Today is the day-" Superman started the meeting from where he sat at the end of the table,"-that we have a very special hero joining us. He is, in fact, the youngest vigilante we have ever had in this building."

Some of the League members turned proud eyes to Robin, but Batman kept his eyes on Superman, although failed to keep the proud half-smile off his face.

"Robin, you have earned your place here. You are one of few to win the honor of a seat at this table. You made a choice long ago to serve for justice, and this is your reward." Superman smiled at the blushing Boy Wonder, as did the other Justice League members. It was Wonder Woman who spoke next.

"You have earned the trust of Batman, and that in itself is impressive," Many nods and murmurs of agreement went around the room,"We would love for you to join us for many, many Justice League meetings to come." _Please, please, protect that boy so that he can._ She silently added in her head to Batman.

Robin nodded solemnly at the Amazonian sitting opposite from him. The rest of the Justice League gave him a round of applause. When it was time to move on to the first planned topic of the meeting, the other Justice League members turned back to Superman as he began. Batman put a hand on Robin's shoulder and gave a small nod of pride, and the smile on Robin's face was his reward.

That is when the door opened, and in came Flash and Kid Flash.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Barry, you're _always_ late," Wonder Woman spoke up and rolled her eyes.

"I was late to my own wedding," He waved his hand through the air as if to wave off the statement. He led the much smaller Speedster to his seat by the hand.

"This must be Kid Flash?" Superman asked. The bright boy nodded.

"Welcome to the Justice League HQ, we were just introducing another new vigilante," Superman gestured to Robin,"We are honored to have another young Hero."

The members of the league gave Kid Flash a round of applause, like they did for Robin. Kid Flash smiled excitedly around the room as the clapping died down. He caught the eye of the young vigilante directly across from him, or at least assumed he did because of the mask, and he smiled and gave a discreet wave.

He was surprised to see the apprentice of Batman, who he assumed would be stoic and serious, wave back at him just as discreetly. He decided he liked the boy much more than his menacing mentor, although he'd never actually spoke to either one of them.

Superman continued with the meeting, which was full of incredibly boring conversations for a bunch of people in capes to have. Robin looked around for a minute and thought he could hear Green Arrow snoring lightly for a second, before Black Canary kicked him and he woke up. He giggled as quietly as he could and tried to pay attention. It was after a few minutes that Robin attempted to catch the eye of the Speedster across the table again.

"_Do you know how to sign?_" Robin used sign language to communicate to the boy.

"_Ya._" Robin was surprised when Kid Flash signed back. They looked away from each other for a moment when Superman stood up. He pulled down a projector screen and dimmed the lights. Robin could've sworn he heard Flash groan at the sight, and he was positive that Green Lantern was snoring now. He saw Kid Flash giggle.

"_G.A. is asleep._" Kid Flash signed to Robin.

"_I know. Black Canary is mad._" They looked over to where Black Canary was attempting to keep Green Arrow awake, and laughed as silently as they could.

Batman found his eyes closing underneath his cowl sleepily before he caught sight of his silently laughing ward. _What is he doing?_ He looked over to Kid Flash, who was also giggling. He waited a moment before he caught sight of Robin's gloved hands moving slightly over the table. _Sign Language? Who is he signing?_ He looked over just in time to see Kid Flash moving his hands in reply. He almost snickered. _I thought they'd get along, but why does Kid Flash know sign language?_

"-And that should about cover the expense report. So in review, in case some of you were not paying attention, or _sleeping_," Superman looked pointedly to Green Arrow,"Electricity can but cut a little bit, and the food budget is way over what it should be." This time he looked to the Scarlet Speedster, who held up his hands as if to say sorry, but he was laughing quietly.

"_Food?_" Robin questioned with his hand gestures.

"_Ya, Speedsters do nothing __**but**__ eat._" Robin thought about Kid Flash's answer for a moment before replying.

"_High metabolism_?" He asked. Kid Flash nodded with a smile.

"_Exactly_." That was when Superman turned the lights back on and went back to his seat. Robin and Kid Flash both saw Black Canary kick Green Arrow again to wake him up.

"Does anyone else have anything to add?" When Superman got nothing but head shakes, and Green Arrow wiping drool off the table, he dismissed the group. Most of the heroes headed straight out of the conference room and some of them stayed in the waiting area to chat. The Speedsters made their way over to Batman and Robin.

"Hey, Bats!" Flash greeted, "And little Bats," He added as he looked at Robin.

"Flash," Batman greeted simply. The two mentors began their own conversation while Kid Flash and Robin started talking.

"You're Robin!"

"Ya," Robin answered shyly.

"So you can do like flips, and hand springs, and can throw batarangs and..." Kid Flash spoke quickly. He paused before completely changing subjects,"You're younger than I thought you were." It took Robin a moment to process all of the information Kid Flash had somehow rushed into just two sentences. He didn't mind though, he already decided he liked Kid Flash.

"Sure, I do those things all the time, and I'm ten," he paused before rephrasing,"Almost eleven, though."

"Cool! I'm eleven," Kid Flash paused like Robin had done, "Almost twelve, though." They smiled at each other for a moment before they started to listen to their mentor's conversation.

"So Batman, what made you suddenly bring him to a JLA meeting? Not that were not all excited to see him here," Barry added quickly. Batman paused before answering. _How do I tell him he corrected my math? _

"It was a reward," Robin was the one to speak. Batman nodded in agreement. _I could ask what it was for... but it could be personal. _Flash decided to leave the answer between the Dynamic Duo.

"And the reason you decided to bring Kid Flash?" Batman asked. Flash paused for a moment. _How do I tell him he saved my butt from Captain Cold?_

"It was a reward," Kid Flash spoke up. Batman nodded and decided he wouldn't ask.

"Sorry to cut this short, but it's a little late..." Flash hinted. Batman gave a nod of agreement. Kid Flash and Robin gave a wave to each other.

"Sorry you two didn't get to talk that long," Flash said to the two boys. They smiled at each other conspiritorially, they talked through the whole meeting.

"Maybe next time I'll show up on time." Kid Flash snorted quietly at his mentor and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe the Arkham guards will do their jobs correctly as well." Robin, Kid Flash, and Flash all laughed at Batman's statement. _Did Batman just joke?_ Flash thought.

Flash turned to leave, but before Kid Flash could follow, Batman gently put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Kid Flash turned to look at the Dark Knight with wide eyes.

"Where'd you learn sign language?" Batman asked in a voice quiet enough that Flash couldn't overhear, after he removed his hand and knelt down to the boy's eye level. Kid Flash winced. _Caught!_

"Um, my cousin is deaf..." The corner of Batman's mouth twitched upwards and Kid Flash relaxed.

"That was smart, communicating like that."

"Actually it was Rob's idea." The corner of Batman's mouth curved into a half smile at the nickname. Kid Flash was fine with letting his son get the credit. Batman knew he would make a good teammate some day.

"Hopefully Flash really won't be late again next time, then you can communicate openly, but if not, sign language is always an option." Batman straightened himself up and nodded to Flash, who was waiting for Kid Flash to be allowed to follow with a slightly worried expression. Kid Flash beamed with happiness and waved to both Batman and Robin as he went to join his mentor. Batman allowed Robin to grab his hand again as they made their way toward the Zeta tube.

"Did you have fun with Kid Flash?"

"Ya! Can I come to the next meeting?"

"If you do your homework and don't get in trouble." Robin knew this was a 'yes.'

"Yes! Maybe they won't be late!" Batman smiled but nodded his head.

"You heard him, Robin, the man was late to his own wedding." Robin giggled, and they entered the Zeta tube. Batman punched in the coordinates for home.


End file.
